The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said on Tuesday that 80 percent of Horizon 1 and 10 percent of Horizon 2 of its modernization program had been completed.
“The DND is formalizing the termination of the contract with SOVTECHNOEXPORT LLC of the Russian Federation for the procurement of 16 units of Mi-17 heavy-lift helicopters for the Philippine Air Force,” Andolong said. Asked about the reason for the cancellation, Andolong said there were “changes in priorities necessitated by global political developments.”
“The review is not like fault-finding. We are not looking for any graft and corruption cases, issues there. It is aligning it to the current needs, the situation right now, the budget allocated for it and all,” Faustino said. “We’re not targeting just one—all, lahat ng modernization projects namin tinitignan namin ito. As I said: is it within the budget, is it relevant right now, is the technology na kailangan namin up to date?” he added.
Two new T-129 “ATAK” helicopters from Turkey and a C-295 medium lift aircraft from Spain were turned over to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on Wednesday, the military said Thursday.